--- title: "Atlassian Forge Developer - Intelligent IDE Plugin" description: "A WebStorm/JetBrains plugin delivering intelligent autocompletion, real-time validation, and integrated documentation for Atlassian Forge development - 83 OAuth scopes, 71 event types, 155+ project templates, all modeled in Kotlin." locale: "en" canonical: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/atlassian-forge-developer-ide-plugin" source: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/atlassian-forge-developer-ide-plugin.md" html_source: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/atlassian-forge-developer-ide-plugin" author: "José DA COSTA" date: "2025" type: "achievement" slug: "atlassian-forge-developer-ide-plugin" tags: ["Kotlin 2.1.20", "IntelliJ Platform SDK 2.5.0", "Gradle 8.13", "Java 21", "SnakeYAML", "GitHub Actions", "Qodana", "Kover"] generated_at: "2026-04-23T15:42:48.046Z" --- # Atlassian Forge Developer - Intelligent IDE Plugin A WebStorm/JetBrains plugin delivering intelligent autocompletion, real-time validation, and integrated documentation for Atlassian Forge development - 83 OAuth scopes, 71 event types, 155+ project templates, all modeled in Kotlin. **Date:** April 2025 - July 2025 **Duration:** ~3 months **Role:** Solo Developer & Architect **Technologies:** Kotlin 2.1.20, IntelliJ Platform SDK 2.5.0, Gradle 8.13, Java 21, SnakeYAML, GitHub Actions, Qodana, Kover ### Key Metrics - Kotlin Lines: **-** - main + tests compiled - Total Files: **-** - 112 files across all categories - OAuth Scopes: **-** - Fully modeled with descriptions - Forge Templates: **-** - Cataloged by product & UI type ## Presentation _Project overview and context_ - **Atlassian Forge Developer** is a plugin for WebStorm (and compatible JetBrains IDEs) that provides intelligent support for **Atlassian Forge** application development. It delivers contextual autocompletion, advanced syntax highlighting, real-time validation, and automatic quick fixes for `manifest.yml` files - the central configuration file of every Forge application. - The plugin targets developers building cloud applications for the Atlassian ecosystem (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Compass, Jira Service Management) via the Forge platform. Before this plugin, developers edited their manifest.yml files without any IDE assistance: no suggestions, no validation, no contextual documentation. Every error in this file was only revealed at deployment time, causing costly debugging cycles. - The plugin is exclusively designed for **Forge** applications and does not support Atlassian Connect applications (which use `atlassian-connect.json`). - Contextual YAML autocompletion based on position in the syntax tree - covering properties for all 5 Atlassian products - Real-time validation against the official Forge schema - required properties, types, patterns, deprecated values - One-click quick fixes - add missing properties, update deprecated runtimes, generate valid ARI app IDs - Advanced syntax highlighting - visual distinction by element type, configurable via Settings - Integrated Atlassian documentation search - filtering by product and content type, Markdown copy for AI tools - Forge environment variable management - visual interface with multi-environment support and encryption - Forge project creation wizard - 155+ official templates by product and UI type - Forge CLI integration - deploy, tunnel, install, lint commands directly from the IDE **Detection Text:** The plugin only activates its features when it detects a genuine Forge project via dual criteria: the `manifest.yml` contains an `app.id` starting with `ari:cloud:ecosystem::` AND a `package.json` in the same directory contains at least one `@forge/` dependency. This ensures the plugin never interferes with other YAML files. ## Objectives, Context, Stakes & Risks _Strategic context and identified challenges_ ### Obj Devex IDE-native support for Forge development in WebStorm ### Obj Error Real-time validation catches errors before deployment ### Obj Coverage Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Compass, JSM + Rovo ### Obj Docs Atlassian documentation searchable directly from the IDE ### Obj Templates Official Forge templates accessible via project wizard **Objectives Intro:** The Atlassian Forge Developer plugin was created to fill a critical gap: the complete absence of IDE tooling for the proprietary manifest.yml format used by Atlassian Forge. **Obj Devex Label:** Developer Experience **Obj Devex Value:** First-class **Obj Error Label:** Error Reduction **Obj Error Value:** Pre-deploy **Obj Coverage Label:** Product Coverage **Obj Coverage Value:** 5 products **Obj Docs Label:** Documentation **Obj Docs Value:** Integrated **Obj Templates Label:** Templates **Obj Templates Value:** 155+ **Context Text:** The project builds on the **official JetBrains template** for IntelliJ Platform plugin development. The Forge manifest schema is complex and proprietary: it covers hundreds of properties across modules for 5 Atlassian products, 83 OAuth 2.0 scopes, 71 event types, and 155+ project templates. This entire schema had to be modeled in Kotlin to power autocompletion and validation. **Stakes Text:** **Developer productivity**: every minute saved on Forge configuration impacts thousands of developers in the Atlassian ecosystem. **Code quality**: pre-deployment error detection avoids costly debugging cycles on the cloud platform. **Strategic positioning**: being the first (and potentially only) dedicated Forge IDE plugin provides significant competitive advantage on the JetBrains Marketplace. **Risk1 Title:** Atlassian schema dependency **Risk1 Desc:** The Forge schema evolves regularly; the plugin must track updates or risk becoming obsolete **Risk2 Title:** IDE compatibility **Risk2 Desc:** Supporting WebStorm versions 2024.2 to 2025.2 (builds 242-252) requires rigorous compatibility testing **Risk3 Title:** PSI complexity **Risk3 Desc:** Manipulating the IntelliJ Platform syntax tree (PSI) is technically demanding and prone to subtle regressions **Risk4 Title:** Market adoption **Risk4 Desc:** Pre-release version (0.1.0) may limit initial adoption on the Marketplace ## The Steps - What I Did _Implementation journey from initialization to stabilization_ - Phase 1 - Phase 2 - Phase 3 - Phase 4 **Phase1 Title:** Initialization & Configuration **Phase1 Period:** April 2025 **Phase2 Title:** Core Features Development **Phase2 Period:** May - June 2025 **Phase3 Title:** Advanced Features **Phase3 Period:** June - July 2025 **Phase4 Title:** Testing & Stabilization **Phase4 Period:** Continuous ## Actors & Interactions _Collaboration model and stakeholder ecosystem_ - This plugin was developed as a **solo project** under the **Addly** brand (https://addly.app), a company dedicated to building developer productivity tools. As sole developer, I handled the full product lifecycle: architecture design, implementation, testing, CI/CD, documentation, and Marketplace preparation. - Development was assisted by **Claude Code** for code generation and pair-programming sessions. The development workflow combined deep Atlassian Forge domain expertise (mine) with AI-accelerated implementation - a model where the human provides vision, architecture, and domain knowledge while AI assists with code execution. **Table Source:** Source **Table Lines:** Lines **Table Percent:** % of Total **Table Files:** Files **Ext Deps Text:** **Atlassian** provided the Forge platform, documentation, and Algolia search API. **JetBrains** provided the IntelliJ Platform SDK, plugin template, and Marketplace distribution infrastructure. The **Forge developer community** represents the target user base. ## Results _Deliverables, metrics, and personal growth_ ### Metric Extensions Completion, annotator, inspection, highlighter, tool windows, etc. ### Metric Workflows Build, release, UI tests, template cleanup, template verify ### Metric Icons 7 SVG icons + 10 PNG readme + 2 SVG readme ### Metric Scripts 1 bash + 3 JS + 1 JSON configuration - **Kotlin advanced patterns** - coroutines, serialization, DSL, IntelliJ Platform conventions - **IntelliJ Platform SDK mastery** - PSI manipulation, extension points, inspections, quick fixes, tool windows, completion contributors, syntax highlighters - **IDE plugin architecture** - lifecycle management, extension points, actions, listeners, file type handling - **Developer Experience (DevEx) as a discipline** - understanding that an IDE tool saving 5 minutes daily per developer justifies itself rapidly at scale - **AI-assisted development workflows** - using Claude Code with detailed specifications (CLAUDE.md) for accelerated implementation while maintaining architectural control - **Domain modeling precision** - the schema files (ManifestSchema, Scopes, EventTypes) represent the core value; the more precise the model, the more useful the plugin **For Product:** For the Product **Metric Extensions:** Plugin Extensions **Metric Workflows:** CI/CD Workflows **Metric Icons:** Icons & Visuals **Metric Scripts:** Utility Scripts **For Company:** For the Company (Addly) **For Company Text:** The plugin is a **publishable product** on the JetBrains Marketplace with a fully automated publication pipeline (signing + deployment). It provides **complete coverage** of the Forge schema across all 5 Atlassian Cloud products. To date, **no direct competitor** exists on the JetBrains Marketplace for specific Atlassian Forge support. **For Me:** For Me - What I Learned **For Me Text:** This project deepened my expertise in several technical and strategic areas: ## What Came After _Post-development state and future trajectory_ **Immediate Text:** The plugin reached **version 0.1.0** with all planned core features implemented. The JetBrains Marketplace publication pipeline is fully automated via GitHub Actions: a GitHub Release triggers signing, packaging, and deployment. The CI/CD includes 5 workflows covering build, test, static analysis (Qodana), compatibility verification, and automated release. **Evolution Text:** The immediate roadmap includes: **committing the initial codebase** to git (currently unversioned), improving **test coverage** beyond the current ~14.5% ratio, **internationalizing** all UI messages (currently 8 i18n properties), and creating **automated schema update scripts** to track Atlassian Forge changes programmatically rather than manually. **Current Text:** The plugin is in **active development** as part of a broader series of JetBrains IDE plugins built under the Addly brand. This particular plugin was chosen for presentation because it best demonstrates the technical depth and product completeness achievable with the IntelliJ Platform SDK. Other plugins in the series follow similar patterns of deep domain modeling combined with comprehensive IDE integration. ## Critical Reflection _Honest retrospective on successes and improvement areas_ - **Developer Experience (DevEx) is a high-impact domain** - a tool that saves 5 minutes per day per developer quickly justifies itself at scale across the Atlassian ecosystem - **The IntelliJ Platform is powerful but demanding** - PSI manipulation, extension points, and API conventions require significant learning investment but enable deeply integrated tooling - **Domain modeling is the core value** - the schema files (ManifestSchema, Scopes, EventTypes) represent the plugin's fundamental worth; the more precise and complete the model, the more useful the plugin becomes - **AI as a development accelerator** - the CLAUDE.md specifications + Claude Code workflow demonstrates how AI can assist complex project development, from implementation to debugging, while the human maintains vision and architectural control